According to legend, a black fox
brings bad luck, but an amateur photographer could hardly believe his
good fortune when he spotted the rare animal near his house.

It is believed to be only the second time a black fox has been spotted in Britain.John Moore, 58, from Bassingbourn, near
Royston, Herts, saw the creature, with its distinctive white-tipped
tail, in fields behind his home.

Killed: The black fox, with its distinctive white-tipped tail, runs through a field close to the village

Bad omen? The accident happened on a busy road in Bassingbourn just four days after the fox was first spotted

Unusual: The black fox is so rare - with the
colouring caused by a defect gene - that there are only a handful of the
breed left in the country

Lucky: John Moore from Bassingbourne in Cambridgeshire

His wife Cheryl, 64, first spotted what she thought to be a black sack blowing in the wind last week.

Mr Moore then spotted it for himself last Thursday but it has disappeared by the time he managed to get his camera out.

He then spent four days watching for
the black fox, which has a distinctive white-tipped tail and is believed
to be one of just a handful in the country.

'My
neighbour thought it was a stray dog but I looked through my binoculars
and realised it was definitely a fox, especially because of its
white-tipped tail.

'I
didn't realise how rare it was until I did some research. An RSPCA
officer told my neighbour the organisation had never seen one before as
they are that rare.

The black fox is
in fact an ordinary red fox which has black fur or is going through a
phase where the colour of its fur is particularly dark.

The phenomenon is normally seen in growing cubs and generally the fox will develop to have a dark chestnut coat. But
a few red foxes will remain black due to a rare genetic flaw dating
back hundreds of years. Only a handful of them are thought to exist in
Britain.

Unwelcome sight: In medieval times, the black fox was considered a bad omen by superstitious villagers

Colouring: The black fox is in fact an ordinary
red fox which has black fur or is going through a phase where the colour
of its fur is particularly dark

WHY DOES THE BLACK FOX REPRESENT BAD LUCK?

In Gaelic tradition, black foxes are
bringers of bad luck.

Rural communities used to tell of a fox as
'black as night, so that it could live in a man's shadow and never be
seen.'

Centuries-old superstitions are often found attached to black animals, such as black dogs and black cats. It is thought to originate from when the black dog was said to bring disaster and doom to whoever saw the animal. In Medieval times, villages were very afraid of the sighting of a black fox and considered it to predict trouble or bad luck.

In North America, foxes with black coats are often found with a variable amount of white or white-banded hair in the dark coat.

Mr Moore added: 'I first saw the black fox last week so when it appeared again yesterday I was ready with my camera.

'I managed to get within 100 metres of it but then it ran off.

'I was really pleased with the photos. I wanted to get them because when we spotted it before no one believed us.

'They thought we must have been mistaken, but from these pictures there's no mistaking it.'

Mr Moore even believes there is a second black fox living in the fields.'I caught a glimpse of a second one but I'm not sure if it's a cub or a male and female fox,' he added.

The
red fox was introduced to America by the peans and black foxes exist in
much greater numbers there because they were not hunted as widely.

In the UK their pelts were highly prized in the fur trade and it is believed the genetic strain became much scarcer.

Only one other black fox has been spotted in Britain before in Preston, Lancashire in 2008.Some people took it as a bad omen as only a few weeks later the banks in Britain nearly collapsed. But it seems the bad luck was turned inwards and a few weeks later a woman found the dead animal on her farm in Heapey, near
Chorley, Lancashire, after it had been seen by neighbours hanging around
the area, looking gaunt.

Omen: Only one other black fox has been spotted
in Britain before in Preston, Lancashire in 2008 in a graveyard - but it
was found dead weeks later

Kevin
Hehir, 48, from Ribbleton in Preston, spotted the animal on September 8
whilst he was out walking and managed to take pictures and record
footage. At the time,
he said: 'I thought it was the Devil looking at me. Then I thought,
"It's a myth, there's no such thing". But I managed to get right up to
it and it's definitely a young black fox.'On
hearing it had died, he added: 'What a shame. At the time it looked
weary and like it was on its last legs. I'm pleased that I managed to
get a picture of it. Far from being unlucky for me it brought the
sunshine and dry weather for the harvest.' *************************************************************